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Justice News

Grand Jury Indicts "Joe Exotic" for Murder-For-Hire

OKLAHOMA CITY – JOSEPH MALDONADO-PASSAGE, also known as Joseph Allen Maldonado, Joseph Allen Schreibvogel, and "Joe Exotic," 55, formerly of Wynnewood, Oklahoma, has been indicted on two counts of hiring a person to commit murder.

On September 5, 2018, a federal grand jury returned an indictment that accuses Maldonado-Passage of hiring an unnamed person in November 2017 to murder "Jane Doe" in Florida. According to the indictment, Maldonado-Passage gave the unnamed person $3,000 to travel from Oklahoma to South Carolina and then to Florida to carry out the murder. He allegedly agreed to pay thousands more after the deed. The indictment alleges Maldonado-Passage caused the person to travel to Dallas to get fake identification for use in the plot. According to the indictment, the person traveled from Oklahoma to South Carolina on November 26, 2017.

In a second count, the indictment alleges that beginning in July 2016, Maldonado-Passage repeatedly asked a different unnamed person to find someone to murder Jane Doe in exchange for money. The second person put Maldonado-Passage in contact with an undercover FBI agent. Maldonado-Passage met with the undercover agent on December 8, 2017, to discuss details of murdering Jane Doe.

Jane Doe did not suffer any physical harm.

The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Maldonado-Passage today in Gulf Breeze, Florida. He will make his initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge today in the Pensacola Division of the Northern District of Florida, followed by further proceedings in the Western District of Oklahoma.

If Maldonado-Passage is found guilty of murder-for-hire, he could be imprisoned on each count up to ten years. He would also be subject to up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 per count.

This case is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and the FBI, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda Green and Charles W. Brown are prosecuting the case.

The public is reminded that these charges are merely allegations and that Maldonado-Passage is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Reference is made to court filings for further information.